Colorado Oil and Gas Association contributions to support fracking in cities with moratoriums on their ballots this fall:

Fort Collins: $256,134

Broomfield: $171,238

Boulder: $110,337

Lafayette: $66,974

Total: $604,683

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association has poured more than $600,000 into efforts to fight fracking moratoriums on the ballot in Broomfield, Boulder, Lafayette and Fort Collins, campaign-finance reports show.

Those reports, filed by the end of business Tuesday, show that the oil and gas industry trade association has contributed the majority of funding in favor of fracking in cities where the drilling practice has been called into question.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association contributed a total of $604,683 to campaigns in the four Front Range cities, with $256,134 going to Fort Collins, $171,238 to Broomfield, $110,337 to Boulder and $66,974 to Lafayette.

In Broomfield, voters are set to vote on Question 300, which would place a five-year ban on all hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the city.

The trade association has contributed a total of $171,238 so far to pro-fracking groups in Broomfield in order to defeat Question 300.

Broomfield's anti-fracking group, Our Broomfield, said the Colorado Oil and Gas Association is trying to intimidate voters by spending large amounts of money on the issue. Our Broomfield has reported $4,952 in contributions between May and Oct. 10, almost solely from small donations from Broomfield residents. Legal services and door hangers made up the majority of the group's expenses.

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Colorado Oil and Gas Association contributed $156,238 to the Broomfield Balanced Energy Coalition, a pro-fracking group led by former state Rep. Don Beezley, a Republican, and former RTD board member Lee Kemp, who last year ran for state Senate as a Democrat. The group received $100 from other sources, including $50 from Kemp and $50 from Beezley's business, Tager Enterprises, Inc.

The group plans to speak out against a fracking ban while supporting other energy methods, such as wind and solar. The group also supports Broomfield's new agreement with oil and gas drilling company Sovereign, which imposes strict environmental and regulatory standards in order for the company to continue drilling within city limits.

The majority of the group's spending went to purchasing yard signs, fliers and a rental deposit for space in order to host a fracking discussion.

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association also contributed $15,000 to It's Our Broomfield, Too, a Broomfield citizen group that supports fracking in the city. The group reported $16,182 in contributions from mid-September through Tuesday.

Laura Fronckiewicz, member of Our Broomfield, said the anti-fracking group was prepared to see pro-fracking groups bring in large donations.

Our Broomfield might not have six-figure donations, but it has higher numbers of overall donors, she said.

"We have the grassroots support," Fronckiewicz said. "It's a daunting number (from the opposition), but we feel we have the feet on the street and the support from the Broomfield residents. That's definitely the difference between us and the opposition."

Our Broomfield is responsible for putting the question on the ballot, and says fracking is potentially harmful to the health and safety of residents. The group said fracking should not occur in Broomfield while there are health and safety questions up in the air, including how fracking chemicals might impact people who live near oil and gas wells. The proposed five-year ban, which supporters are calling a "timeout," would give researchers more time to determine fracking's true effects on residents' health and the environment, Fronckiewicz said.

The industry argues there is no conclusive evidence fracking is harmful to health, and has said banning fracking would encroach on mineral owners' rights to extract oil or gas from their properties.

"On behalf of the 100,000 Colorado families who have an enormous stake in the outcome of these ballot initiatives, we are financially supporting the local groups who oppose the bans," Doug Flanders, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association's director of policy and external affairs, said this afternoon. "Banning a product we all use every day is damaging to the Colorado brand of compromise and reasonableness. These bans are not an energy plan."

Beezley of the Broomfield Balanced Energy Coalition said the major donation from the association helps further BBEC's goal of educating the public about the benefits of fracking and protecting thousands of jobs that rely on the oil and gas industry.

Beezley said he first looked to the association when seeking support for the Broomfield Balanced Energy Coalition.

"The purpose of this is to let people know that fracking has bipartisan support, and to encourage people to vote no on an energy ban that is a one-dimensional response to something that deserves a plan," he said.

Robert Duffy, a political science professor at Colorado State University, said the amount the Colorado Oil and Gas Association has spent on fracking ballot issues is surprisingly large. The six-figure donation is more typical of statewide issues, not smaller, municipal-focused elections, he said.

In each case, the amount the association spent on fracking in the four cities eclipsed the amount raised by groups who are in favor of a fracking moratorium.

"It strikes me as a very big amount of money in its own right, considering it's a municipal election," he said. "The imbalance of funds is so enormous, regardless of how you feel about the issue."

Duffy said the large amount of funding raises questions about the association's motivations for writing big checks. COGA is part of a lawsuit against Longmont, a city that last year banned fracking, and Duffy said it is possible COGA's generous donations are in an effort to avoid future lawsuits with other cities where a fracking ban could occur.

In Boulder, where a moratorium on fracking will go before voters in November, $110,337 was given to anti-moratorium group Boulder Citizens for Rational Energy Decisions as of Monday. The donation also came from the Colorado Oil and Gas Association.

Boulder Citizens for Rational Energy Decisions has spent almost $17,000 on consulting services.

In Lafayette, the forces opposing an anti-fracking measure on the November ballot, represented by Lafayette Campaign for Energy Choice, far outpaced those backing the measure, represented by East Boulder County United, in terms of campaign contributions collected.

Lafayette Campaign for Energy Choice reported $67,074 in contributions from mid-September through Thursday, with all but $100 of that coming from the Colorado Oil and Gas Association. By contrast, East Boulder County United took in $1,762 during the same period.

East Boulder County United collected more than 2,000 signatures from Lafayette residents over the summer to get Ballot Question 300, dubbed the Lafayette Community Rights Act, in front of voters after the City Council declined to refer the measure to the ballot.

The measure proposes to permanently ban any new oil and gas drilling, including the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing, inside Lafayette city limits.

Lafayette Campaign for Energy Choice's filing shows it has so far paid nearly $14,000 to Denver-based iKue Strategies for consulting services, mailings and brochures. It also made a separate expenditure of $1,000 for accounting services.

East Boulder County United spent $2,322 for yard signs, printing costs and volunteer training during the reporting period, and helped cover some campaign costs for its anti-fracking counterpart Our Broomfield.

And in Fort Collins, where voters are set to decide on a potential five-year moratorium on fracking, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association has donated $256,134 to the Fort Collins Alliance for Reliable Energy, a pro-fracking group. The group has reported $256,234 in donations, with the other $100 coming from RM Consulting.

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